Random Thoughts About Denny’s Dallas 30.07 ‘No Open Carry’ Signs

On a Saturday morning in Dallas, Texas, my daughter and I decided to eat breakfast at a nearby Denny’s. On the way in, I noticed the restaurant had posted a 30.07 sign (above). If a private property owner wants to ban open carry on their property, Texas law requires the signs.

The 30.07 sign only restricts open carry. Texans who have a License to Carry (or other state’s permit recognized by the Lone Star State) may carry a concealed handgun into an establishment displaying a 30.07 sign — unless there is another brace of 30.06 signs which ban concealed carry.

I made sure that my vest was covering the GLOCK 17 in its Fobus retention holster when we entered.

Our waitress, Lois, immediately brought a high chair for my granddaughter and a coloring book for my grandson, She brought grapes for him, and yogurt for my granddaughter. My daughter had mentioned my grandson’s name, once, on entering the restaurant. Lois remembered it.

Lois’ professionalism, familiarity with children and attention to their needs was of the highest order. The food was good, the prices reasonable, the atmosphere family-friendly.

On the way out, I let the manager, Zahid, know that I found the 30.07 sign offensive, even though the food and service were excellent. Zahid listened courteously, but made no promises. How could he? I gave him a card for Gun Watch.

The 30.07 sign strikes a compromise; an open carrier need only cover their legally carried handgun to comply. That said, I doubt many customers — especially those who oppose firearms freedom — read beyond the red circle and bar over the 1911 silhouette.

Much to the chagrin of anti-gun rights business owners and civilian disarmament groups, the 30.07 sign is huge. The law requires both English and Spanish wording in one-inch letters.

An owner may post one sign measuring approximately 24″ X 18″ or put up two, measuring approximately 18″ X 12″ each (as above). To be compliant, the signs must be posted at all entrances.

I doubt the majority of 30.07 signs will stay up for very long.

For one thing, they take up valuable advertising space. For another, they detract from an establishment’s look and branding. And a business that doesn’t post a 30.07 can simply ask any open carrier who walks in to cover their firearm. The request — which can also be made in the form of a written card — carries the same force of law.

There’s another factor in play . . .

In my estimation and experience, the number of Americans offended by the open exercise of Second Amendment rights is dropping daily. It’s the only thing more satisfying than a family meal in a restaurant that respects its customers.

I don’t have a problem with businesses that ban open carry. On the other hand I try to not do business with the ones that ban concealed carry. If they only ban open carry it shows they either: 1) see the value of customers being armed but don’t want to offend the anti-gun crowd, 2) they’re anti-gun but don’t want to lose the money LTC holders bring in.

I frequently give my business to Luby’s, Alamo Drafthouse, cinemark which ban open carry.

That would target a class of people. On the other hand, if the facility prohibited public display of affection, and outlined what constituted such a display, that would akin to the situation here. The 30.07 (or 30.06) sign does not prohibit a particular class of person from carrying – it prohibits all classes from carrying.

And yes, I would happily frequent a restaurant that kicked people out for a broad swath of public affection.

I wish that you could open carry everywhere, although, I choose to conceal carry anyways to prevent any issues with criminals. With that said, at least they only require you to conceal instead of banning altogether!

I get a laugh whenever I go to the Fountains of Farah (a “posh” stripmall in El Paso). There are 30.06 & 30.07 at the road entrances… that are brown, under mesquite tree shadows, and infront of a bed of brown landscaping rocks. reeeeaaaaaalllyyy easy to miss. Its even more ironic that there’s a Dick’s sporting goods store there that sells rifles, shot guns, & ammo_.

I used to handle insurance claims for Denny’s. You would be astounded at how many people go to Denny’s after the bars close, eat a big meal, and are immediately stricken with food poisoning (even before the food has been digested). Obviously, the 15 bottles of beer they ingested had NOTHING to do with their illness.

I used to repair commercial dishwashing machines for big restaurants (including Denny’s). Denny’s was the only big chain that actually bothered to check that their machines were sanitizing dishes every single shift at every single store- Denny’s might not be your idea of “gourmet” food, but I’d absolutely trust that their food was safe. When driving cross country with me, you have two choices for food – Cracker Barrel or Denny’s.

When I see a business that posts a 30.07 sign (their private property right to dictate the terms of entry)…

…I USUALLY spend my money somewhere else, IF there is a good alternative, even if I didn’t intend to OC in the first place (my right to do business with people who trust folks to exercise their rights responsibly and with discretion).

I’m another Texas citizen who conceal carries every day. The 30-07 signs don’t bother me a bit. Open carry seems to bring problems in public still. Either it’s the antis, people who want to show off and don’t have much sense, or some idiot with a big mouth and little sense.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of normal people open carrying that just go about their business, but the potential for other idiots causing problems is pretty good, especially at a Dennys.

I’d rather be able to have a nice quiet dinner than get into any 2a disputes. If the need arises my concealed carry can come out just fine.

I’ve been actively, fervently watching this. The # of 30.07 signs that I see outnumber the # of 30.06 signs by about 10 to 1. I’ve seen more and more and more and more 30.07 signs going up. Just last night I took my wife out to a movie; the theater now sports a 30.07. Last restaurant I went to had a new 30.07.

I have not seen a new 30.06 sign go up *anywhere*. But 30.07’s are sprouting like weeds, as our own forum head RF can attest to — when he goes open carrying, the next time he goes there there’s a sign added. Has happened to him more than once.

Open carry has been legal in Texas for about 15 months now. Still haven’t ever seen anyone do it as a general matter of behavior, but I have seen the signs sprout up everywhere so — I imagine somebody does it, and then some customer freaks out at the manager, and then the business reacts immediately.

As a practical day to day matter, the legalization of open carry hasn’t seemed to change Texans’ habits that I’ve noticed, but it has sprouted a veritable plethora of 30.07 signs.

I think open carry is a topic upon which far too much breath is wasted — the real fight is for Constitutional Carry, and I hope all you Texans are planning to show up at the Capitol on March 28th to testify for the restoration of your rights.

Constitutional carry is BOTH open AND concealed carry with NO permit. Otherwise it’s still not CONSTITUTIONAL carry- it’s permitless concealed carry.

Of course, I live in a NO carry zone, so I am envious from afar and planning to move out. When I DO get somewhere I can carry, I will do my best to open, conceal, and carry as many pieces as possible, if visible.

Absolutely hilarious how poor Dean obsesses so over the Texas OC law that allows Denny’s from denying the gratification he experiences when displaying that Glock in a Fobus “retention” (too funny) holster.

OC by license to carry holders is as rare hens teeth in Texas, so rare that most businesses don’t go to the trouble or expense of posting 30.07 signs opting instead to simply give verbal notification that they don’t permit OC on their property if and when one of the extremely rare OC dumb@$$€$ walks through the door.

You see Dean, that Manager like just about everyone else in Texas don’t really give a $#!T if you’re offended that you can’t OC at Denny’s. How’s that lobbying effort for international reciprocity coming along? Did you have on that pith helmet at Denny’s?

That’s your opinion Danny Boy, mine is that Dean’s weird obsession with OC in Texas is uncalled for and desperately spinning any obscure firearm related incident into some sort of vindication of that weird obsession is uncalled for.

Dean doesn’t have a “weird obsession with OC in Texas”, Dean does seem to have a predisposition for overt optimism in promoting OC in every state and seeing roses everywhere in the OC world, yes, but that’s a world of difference from what you said.

And the pith helmet? Seriously, you’re on a gun site and you’re disparaging someone because of a product he chose to buy or wear? You do realize your disparagement of him is exactly akin to those who disparage “gun owners” simply because they own guns, right?

Not true TexTed, calling bull$#it on ridiculous nonsense that distracts and complicates pro 2nd amendment efforts that are significant and attainable (national reciprocity for example) is necessary to counter the narrative of an open carry obsessed nut who can’t see the forest for the trees.

That’s utter nonsense. Every day open carry is becoming more popular and legal in more states. At the same time, more states are enacting constitutional carry legislation, enacting parking lot bills prohibiting employers from terminating employees who have a gun in their car on company parking lots, legalizing NFA items that were previously illegal in the state, and forcing CLEOs to sign off on NFA purchases. In Michigan we got the county gun boards eliminated. The list of pro-gun legislation from state to state goes on and on.

Word is that the Hearing Protection Act is all but a done deal. We’ll see how that goes, but your position is untenable.

I’m referring to a nutty article Dean wrote since the election regarding signs posted on the U.S. side of the Mexican border warning Americans not to cross into Mexico with a firearm or ammunition, in which Dean elaborated further on his hope for the new administration to initiate legislation to create international reciprocity that would make the carrying of firearms by U.S. citizens legal in Mexico.

Apparently that sign on the border irked Dean just like one at Denny’s did.

FYI, I support 100% a Federal statute establishing national reciprocity that enables the lawful carry of a handgun by U.S. citizen’s during travel in all 50 States.

The open carry movement did this to themselves. Businesses ban open carry because they don’t want a bunch of mall ninjas crawling out of their mom’s basements and milling around their establishments with ARs on single point slings.

I certainly don’t think that’s what daily open carry is about. However, the open carry advocates didn’t put a leash on the morons in their ranks, so the Chipolte ninjas are now the public face of open carry. No business wants to be the next Chipotle, so they nip it in the bud with the 30.07 signage.

“Businesses ban open carry because they don’t want a bunch of mall ninjas crawling out of their mom’s basements and milling around their establishments with ARs on single point slings.”

While it’s possible that some have done so, I sincerely doubt that the “Chipotle Ninjas” are responsible for very many bannings.

Instead, I would suggest that the bannings come about because someone like Farago walks around with a gun on his hip. Farago is in no way Ninja-esque, nor does he tote a rifle at the ready-low position, he has a simple pistol on his hip as has been shown in pictures many times. Either the employees or a customer sees it, gets uncomfortable, complains to management, and management orders some 30.07 signs. Done.

The other possibility is that Bloomberg’s Moms are out there actively writing letters and demanding “safety” at every business they can encounter, and those businesses are looking at the math — since only about 4% of the adults in Texas can carry a weapon at all, and only about 0.000000000000000000001% of the adults in Texas actually practice open carry, versus a daily deluge of letters, emails and phone calls harassing them, they acquiesce and put up the signs.

Note: I have no evidence of that happening, I list it as a “possibility” because — it’s exactly the type of thing I’d expect from them.

Exactly. I don’t know how active Mom’s Demand Action is in Texas , but here in Michigan they’ve been very active and have pressured stores and restaurants to ban guns. They haven’t been very successful, though, and have even been kicked off store properties. They threaten not to buy groceries there, but since every grocery store allows CC and OC their threats are hollow.

Some members have even been caught putting “no gun” stickers on restaurant doors!

Liberal anti gun groups are about as insignificant in number and ignored here in the Lone Star State as nuts totally consumed and obsessed with open carry who incessantly whine about 30.07 signs posted at businesses that permit concealed carry but not open carry.

So OC is Dean’s thing. So what? Liberte writes about hunting – it’s her thing and nearly 100% of her articles are about hunting. Are you going to rant that she has a “weird obsession” with hunting?

Leave Dean alone. He does good work. He does seem overly optimistic about the impact, influence, and meaning of OC, but so what? It’s the drum he likes to beat.

If he is factually wrong, call him out on it. But your personal vendetta and ad-hominem attacks aren’t accomplishing anything other than to make pro-freedom activists embarrassed to have you behaving that way.

Why the hell would anyone go to Denny’s for anything? Maybe the Denny’s in other places are different than the ones around here. Eating at any of the Denny’s local to me is an effective way of evacuating your entire digestive tract. From both ends.

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Nearly 34,000 people were gunned down and died in the US in 2016. That’s completely insane. And, that’s the truth